Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 18

One of my favorite times of the year has finally arrived - race week!  Runners will begin to descend on the city of bridges for all the different race adventures that await them.  As this week begins, it's still a little crazy to think that 18 weeks ago, the process had just begun.

Monday: 3 Miles - Today started a very hectic week with lots of things happening around the house.  The wife needed some time to finish up the cake for her cousin's wedding (the cake turned out amazing!) meaning I had the peanut for my run.  As we started out, the sky above looked pretty ominous mirroring the forecast of rain for the day.  And as you can expect, we were about a half mile into the warm-up when the heavens let loose.  While peanut stayed perfectly dry in her stroller, dad was not so lucky.  I decided to head back home accepting that this run may just have to be on the treadmill.  Lo and behold, by the time I climbed the hill and reached the driveway, the rain had stopped.  Go figure!  In already being wet and the little one still sound asleep, we headed back out to finish the workout.  With my knee still tender, we kept a very conservative pace as we enjoyed the smell of spring after a fresh rain.

Someone was clearly not bothered by the rain

At least we got a rainbow!

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 4 Miles - Today was my last run before race weekend.  Maybe it was only having one rest day since the last workout, but my knee just wasn't having any of it.  Tight and sore, I hobbled along the miles attempting to just finish them as best as possible.  I knew that the next few days would be all about rest and I was gambling on that being just what I needed.

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Expo Volunteering - I can think of no better way to get into the spirit of race weekend than spending it volunteering at the Expo.  While I had spent last year assisting with packet pick-up, this year I wanted a more active role of helping runners get ready for the weekend - race info table it was!  I felt like I was really helping people to ease their nerves and prepare them for all the fun to come. For the record, the most popular question of the night: So where is the best place to park?

Saturday: Pittsburgh Marathon 5K - In being one of those crazy people who thinks the Steel Challenge (running a 5K today and another race tomorrow) sounds like fun, I headed downtown to meet up with friends for the race.  I planned to keep things easy knowing that 26.2 miles awaited me tomorrow.  In the end, I decided to run with my friend Mike, helping him to reach a new PR for the distance.  Afterward, we headed to the Expo to walk around for a while more before parting ways.  

Sunday: Pittsburgh Marathon - Check out my race recap for all the gritty details!

Wow, still hard to believe it's all over.  Going forward, I'll be spending a few weeks recovering and giving some thought to what I want to accomplish next.  Thank you for following along on this journey!

Happy running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 17

The clock just keeps ticking bringing us closer and closer to race day.  Going into this week, I still had a good bit of trepidation as my body just wasn't healing like the taper was suppose to accomplish.  I had a feeling that more days of rest days were ahead than mileage.

Monday: 4 Miles - After Saturday's run and taking yesterday off, that internal struggle of whether or no a I should run has been playing havoc with my head.  Since my knee seems to get just as tight from sitting around as it does while working out, I hoped that putting a few miles wouldn't do more harm than good.  Taking things relatively easy after lots of foam rolling and stretching, the soreness only developed during the final half mile or so.  I'd call that improvement.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 6 Miles - Following a rest day, I was feeling decently well going into today's workout.  In having an event at school in the evening, I brought my running gear with me so I could squeeze in the run between the work day and when things got rolling at night.  Between the ascents, downhills, and uneven sidewalks, I was hurting by the end.  "Overdoing it" would be an understatement.  I resolved to take the next few days off to get myself back to where I had been on Monday.

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 8 Miles - Over the past few weeks, our group has been slowly shrinking as each person runs his or her goal race.  At this point, the only people left were those of us taking on Pittsburgh next weekend.  We kept a relatively gentle pace talking strategy for the race as well as just joking around.  Before leaving, a few of us made plans to run the marathon together, since we are shooting for the same goal time.  It will be nice to have the support when the miles get tough.

Sunday: Rest Day

Well, my prediction at the beginning of the week came try.  Most of the time this cycle was spent just trying to keep further damage from occurring.  With only a week to go, my confidence level for hitting my goal had greatly dwindled.  But at this point, there is not much more that can be done than just to do my best - that's all that can be asked.

Happy running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 16

After all those long miles and hard runs, tapering is under way!  Cutting back and recovering is on the agenda for the next three weeks.  I'll also be doing my best to avoid the "taper crazies" of phantom pains and high levels of anxiousness.  Time to let my body do its thing!

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 6 Miles - Knowing that tapering was about recovering in preparation for the big day, I decided to add an additional rest day before starting this week's cycle.  My knee was still feeling out of sorts and this run did nothing to boost my confidence that the time off had done anything to heal whatever was wrong.  I kept things slow hoping that some movement would stretch out whatever muscles were bunching up.

Thursday: 5 Miles - I felt no better or worse after yesterday's run so off I went to Shoes and Brews.  Running with other definitely helped keep my mind off the nagging tenderness in my knee.  However,  I'm now wondering if I should have set today as another rest day following more of an alternating pattern until my legs were back to normal.

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 12 Miles - Considering the trend from earlier in the week, I wasn't sure how today's long run would turn out.  Spending extra time stretching all the different muscles in my left leg, I did pretty well at keeping a decent pace without too much pain.  It was only in the last mile that my knee locked up making me feel like I was limping more than running.  Once we got back to the store, I worked on loosening things up again, which went a long way toward mitigating the discomfort.

Sunday: Rest Day

Looking back, I spent more of this week resting than running.  I have been spending all day reminding myself that that's okay.  The important miles are in and now it's about getting to 100% for May 7th.  Over the next two weeks, I'll let me body dictate my running schedule and have faith that all will turn out well.  That's all I can do, so no point worrying otherwise.

Happy running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 15

I always imagine marathon training to be like an awkwardly shaped mountain - it keeps building to the summit and then drops off.  Well, this week we have reached the pinnacle.  I know that, once I survive this cycle workouts, everything will be downhill afterward.

Monday: 5 Miles - Today was definitely one of those times when I was grateful for the gift of running.  Just letting my body set the pace, I trotted along enjoying the amazing sunshine and cool breeze.  I even pushed myself a little up the hills feeling the burn in my core.  This is going to be a good week.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 10 Miles - Picking up the peanut from here babysitter early, we headed to the park for an easy stroller run.  About halfway through the workout, the wife met up with us so I could do the hand-off and finish the workout solo.  However, to my surprise, these last five miles seemed harder than for the first, since my body was accustomed to pushing the little one along.  When you get into the rhythm, changes become much harder to adjust to.

Thursday: 5 Miles - Like Monday, I felt like I was gliding along over these miles.  The ease of last week seems to still be paying off up to this point.  I'm hoping that, if tapering works this well, I'll be feeling strong come race morning.

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 20 Miles - I'm still in disbelieve that today was the peak distance of peak week.  Like a decent contingent of runners who live in the 'burgh, I took advantage of the course preview run hosted by Steel City Road Runners.  Meeting up with some of my Up-N-Running group members, we set out through the city of bridges to help prepare ourselves for May 7th.  And by set out, I mean we ran about a block then were stopped at a light...then ran a block and stopped at another light...then ran a block and stopped at another light.  You get the idea.  I was reminded why I much prefer country running than doing miles in the city.  Eventually, after making it out of downtown, we were able to cruise along.  We kept a pretty decent pace, when not stopped at the various intersections or attempting to figure out which way to turn (none of us had grabbed maps and we were in between page groups!).  And if nothing else, we now have a better idea of the route with all the horror stories put into perspective.

Sunday: 10 Miles Pace -  With tired legs, I set out on the run today knowing that it was all about hitting the my goal pace.  Like the past several workouts of this type, I set out to negative split the second half to condition myself to start out slow and kick it in at the end.  While still ending up slightly faster overall than intended, I achieved what I set out to accomplish.  I then promptly went and took an hour long nap.

By the end of this week, I was exhausted.  The reserves of energy I had at the beginning were burned up and then some.  My body is making itself heard that I may have pushed too hard too many times by my left knee developing a odd tightness/soreness.  Beginning Week 16 with a rest day is a given, since it will all be tapering from here on out.

Happy running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 14

After a fairly decent high mileage week, part of me just wanted to keep going at that level of intensity.  Alas, this cycle was once again about cutting back to allow for the necessary healing and repair.  Maybe I'll just look at this week as a practice in patience.

Monday: 5 Miles - For some reason unbeknownst to me, I was just buzzing right through today's miles.  Where I normally follow more of a progression type of run, this workout seemed to be about hitting that peak pace right from the beginning.  After having spent the two previous days running a fairly speedy 30 miles, I was surprised by how strong my legs felt.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 6 Miles - For how good Monday went, today was a polar opposite.  I just couldn't move with any sort of rhythm.  Instead of getting discouraged, I accepted that this pace was just what my body needed.  I also took the chance to explore the progress of a nearby closed road hoping that the construction on it was ahead of schedule.  No such luck....

Thursday: 5 Miles - With a day full of torrential downpours, I was anxious if "Shoes and Brews" would be cancelled.  As was hoped for, everything cleared up by the time the evening run rolled around.  And unlike yesterday, my speed seemed to have returned.  Maybe it's just some mini-taper crazies kicking in?

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 12 Miles - I was informed at the beginning of the group run today that my job was to keep us going at a gentle pace.  Totally failed at that one!  While we weren't necessarily going full throttle, the pace was edging outside of the recommendations for long runs (30-90 seconds slower than race pace).  I blame it all on the good conversation that distracted me from my watch data.

Sunday: 6 Miles - Yeah...so about that pace.  I think my legs were itching for some speed after a week of lower mileage and less intensity.  There was a little voice in the back of my head reminding me that next week would be another hard cycle.  I promptly ignored it, for better or worse.

This week proved to be a mixed bag of ups and down, with the former way outweighing the latter.  With only four weeks to go, I'm thinking that that is a good sign.  To affirm this race readiness, I'll get a better feel by participating in the course preview next weekend.  Anything I can do to build confidence can only help.

Happy running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 13

Round two of peak week is under way!  Once again hitting 50 miles, I'll be conditioning my body with lots of time on my feet.  I'll also be wrapping things up in the end with another marathon pace run to help gauge my readiness.

Monday: 6 Miles - In staying after school for a meeting, I decided to let today be a "neighborhood exploration" type of run.  One problem: I miscalculated how far I had traveled from my starting point.  Not going to lie, there was a little part of me that figured this would happen. Whelp, guess one extra mile won't hurt in the larger scheme of things!

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 10 Miles - Due to my wife having a meeting after work, today resulted in a daddy-daughter bonding run.  Being able to share with the peanut something that I love does mean a lot to me and she doesn't seem to mind spending time in the stroller looking at the people, nature, sky, everything.  I imagine that many runs this summer will be with my favorite running buddy.

Thursday: 5 Miles - After pushing a stroller for so long yesterday, the miles today felt fairly easy as I joined up for "Shoes and Brews" again.  The crowd had grown since last week as word spread of what our group was doing.  People of all ability levels and running backgrounds joined us reflecting in a great way the diversity of the running community.

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 20 Miles - In usual Pittsburgh fashion, the weather had somehow shifted from warm and clear skies to dreary grey and cold rain in a matter of 48 hours.  This was of course just in time for the long run.  The original plan had been to follow the same trail as two weeks ago, but, alas, a rain storm that night before flooded major portions of the path.  As a Plan B and after hearing from one of the other running group members, I headed to the same park as Wednesday planning to work on the mental side of running in knowing that four monotonous loops awaited me.  Maybe it was this negative attitude that made my legs feel so sluggish as I started out.  However, at mile 6 I was joined by one of my running group mates who just so happened to have 14 miles on his training plan for the day.  Between the great conversation and pushing each other a little bit, the remainder of the workout felt worlds better.  Amazing how much difference company can made on a run.

Sunday: 10 Miles Pace - Another week, another marathon pace attempt.  In being comfortable running on hill terrain, moving to a flat path creates a challenge in knowing exactly how quickly I'm moving.  By the end of this run, I was down to 7:55/mile, which is five seconds ahead of what I had completed last week.  Hmm.....

At this point, I have no idea what race day will bring when it comes to time goals.  I've been consistently speeding up my pace runs and feeling pretty decent during them.  However, going too fast is what got me into trouble at Akron.  I'll continue to plan on a negative split and see how things go from there.

Happy running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 12

One of the unique characteristics of my training plan is the transition between peak weeks and off weeks.  After having completed the tradition 20 mile long run last week, this set of workouts proved to be a small taper as recovery from the intensity of logging high mileage.  It felt a little odd to be doing so much less, but I'll trust in the plan!

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 5 Miles - I really had to work hard today on reigning myself in.  After having completed the first two miles as a relatively speedy pace, I knew my body wasn't obtaining the recovery intended by this week's structure.  Easing on the gas, I slowed down to something more akin to what would be help me heal up and feel refreshed.

Wednesday: 6 Miles - Well, for how good a I did yesterday at moderating my pace, today it all went out the window.  At one point I was pretty darn close to moving at marathon pace.  Maybe its a sign that I'm ready to cruise in a few weeks?

Thursday: 5.6 Miles - Our running club started up a program that they had implemented last year called "Shoes and Brews."  After going a few easy miles, everyone returns to the store for drinks and socializing.  While I am not the biggest beer drinker, I had the opportunity to meet new people who generally don't join us for the weekend long runs.  My circle of running acquaintances is definitely growing!

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 12 Miles - I would have given anything to have today's amazing weather last week when going 20; the perfect conditions almost seemed wasted on such a short distance comparatively.  Hovering at times possibly a tad too fast for this workout, I did my best to ignore all the data from my watch knowing that some runs are just about going out and doing.  I let the socializing dictate the pace for the day.

Sunday: 6 Miles Pace - My occasional level of indecision on things seems to be playing havoc with my goal marathon pace.  Yet again I have revised the plan with the hopes of now going 8:00/mile.  In this run in particular, I found it challenging to go slow enough to maintain my original goal of 8:15/mile.  Though I still plan on negative splitting the race, what I hope to average continues to delve lower each week.

In reflecting on this week, while I didn't mind the lower mileage, it also felt a little odd - not good, not bad, just different.  In next week being another peak week, we'll see if this cut back made impacted how I performed when things got hard again.

Happy running!
Sean